2026_05_cosmegram - Flipbook - Page 1
COSMEGRAM
May 2026 ¥ Vol 56 | Issue 5
MONTHLY MEETING - MAY 2026
Rheology 101: Why Your Products Flow and Feel Like They Do
Speaker: Todd Squires - Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, UC Santa Barbara
Almost everybody learns that there are three states of matter: solids, liquids, and gases. And yet
many cosmetic products defy this simple classification Ñ a lotion sits in a pile on your hand like a
solid, but flows like a liquid when spread. Rheology is the study of how and why these materials
flow and deform - and lies at the heart of the sensory qualities that are key to product
performance and differentiation. I will describe different flow properties and develop mental
models of how key ingredients behave microscopically to cause this behavior. My goal is to help
you understand your formulations in this way, and therefore to help you optimize product
performance, troubleshoot failures at the bench and on the production floor, and design entirely
new products.
Todd Squires has served as a Professor of Chemical Engineering at UC Santa
Barbara since 2005 and is a proud faculty advisor of UCSB's SCC student
chapter. His research group studies the dynamics of soft materials and
complex fluids, both experimentally and theoretically. Recent areas of interest
include interfacial rheology of surfactant monolayers, in the context of the lung
surfactant, emulsion and foam stability, the conceptual design of formulated
products, and diffusiophoretic delivery of suspended colloids and droplets.
Honors include the NSF CAREER award, the Beckman Young Investigator, the
Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award, the inaugural GSOFT Early Career Award in Soft
Matter, and a fellowship in the American Physical Society.
May 12, 2026
5:30 - 8:30 PM
Duke's Malibu
21150 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, CA 90265
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